Method and/or system for adaptive gaming experience

ABSTRACT

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to systems for providing an interactive experience to game participants.

This application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/833,151, filed on Aug. 2, 2007, entitled METHOD AND/OR SYSTEM FORADAPTIVE GAMING EXPERIENCE, which claims the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalApplication Nos. 60/837,151; 60/837,149, 60/837,150, and 60/837,111,which were filed on Aug. 11, 2006. All of aforementioned patentapplications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to systems and methods forproviding an interactive gaming experience.

2. Information

Computing and network communication technology enable game participantsto interact with one another and their environment as part of aninteractive game experience. Game participants may interact with a userinterface of a computing platform hosting one or more applicationscapable of providing a media-rich game experience. Such computingplatforms may be connected to other devices through a data communicationnetwork to affect a gaming experience in response to real-time events.For example, a game participant's computing platform may communicatewith a server to obtain additional information. The computing platformmay process this additional information to provide an interactiveexperience. Alternatively, in a multi-participant game, a gameparticipant's computing platform may deliver an interactive gameexperience to the game participant based on information received fromanother participant's computing platform.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Non-limiting and non-exhaustive embodiments will be described withreference to the following figures, wherein like reference numeralsrefer to like parts throughout the various figures unless otherwisespecified.

FIGS. 1A and 1B comprise a schematic diagram of a system to provide aninteractive gaming experience to game participants according to anembodiment.

FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram illustrating determination of a locationof a mobile device in an interactive gaming environment according to anembodiment.

FIG. 2B is a schematic diagram illustrating an energizer/reader pair foruse in semi-active detection of a radio frequency identification (RFID)device.

FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram illustrating an architecture of softwarehosted on a computing platform of a mobile device for communicating witha game server according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3B is a schematic diagram illustrating an architecture of softwarehosted on a game server for communicating with elements of aninteractive gaming system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating interactions among softwarecomponents relating to a game server according to an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating interactions among softwarecomponents relating to a mobile device to provide a gaming experience toa game participant according to an embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating interactions among softwarecomponents relating to an interactive installation according to anembodiment.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating interactions among softwarecomponents to provide a human-mediated gaming experience according to anembodiment.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating interactions among softwarecomponents to provide a human-mediated gaming experience according to anembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In particular embodiments illustrated herein, participants in aninteractive game may physically move about in a gaming environment tointeract with one another, machines, audio visual devices, sensorsand/or the like. For instance, a gaming area over a geographical regionmay be populated with one or more interactive installations to, amongother things, provide special effects to be experienced by suchparticipants. Such special effects may be generated in response toactions taken by the participants and/or associated game states.

According to an embodiment, a game experience provided to participantsin a gaming area may be altered and/or adjusted in response to feedbackinformation. In one embodiment, such a game experience for a particularparticipant may be altered and/or tailored according to specificattributes of the particular participant. Alternatively, such a gamingexperience may be tailored and/or altered in response to dynamicconditions.

According to an embodiment, an interactive gaming system may provide aninteractive gaming experience to one or more “game participants” (“gameparticipant” is to be used interchangeably herein with “participant”).In one particular embodiment a game participant may interact with aninteractive gaming system through one or more “mobile devices” which arecapable of communicating with one or more other elements of theinteractive gaming system over a communication network. Here, such amobile device may comprise a computing platform comprising communicationadapter to transmit information between applications hosted on themobile device and other elements of the interactive gaming system using,for example, a wireless communication protocol. In particularembodiments, a mobile device may comprise a general-purpose device suchas a mobile telephone, personal digital assistant (PDA), notebookcomputer, and/or the like. Alternatively, a mobile device may comprise aspecial-purpose device such as jewelry, a pin, a bracelet, a handhelddevice, a computing platform embedded in a garment a vehicle, and/or thelike.

In accordance with particular embodiments, an interactive gaming systemcomprises one or more interactive installations provided at one or morelocations over a geographical area. In one embodiment, such interactiveinstallations may receive information from a game participant and/ormobile device co-located with the game participant at one or moresensors. Additionally, an interactive installation may provide aresponse to game participants as part of an interactive experience.

FIGS. 1A and 1B provide a schematic diagram of a system 10 configured toprovide an interactive gaming experience to game participants accordingto an embodiment. In the particular implementation of FIGS. 1A and 1B,game participants associated with mobile devices (e.g., mobile devices12, 14 or 16) participate in a gaming experience at interactiveinstallations 26 controlled, at least in part, by a game server 38.Interactive installations 26 may be dispersed over a geographical areasuch as that of a theme or amusement park. In other embodimentsinteractive installations may be dispersed over a geographical area suchas a neighborhood, school or business campus, convention center, theatrecomplex, town, metropolitan area, political subdivision such as a city,state or nation, just to name a few examples.

According to an embodiment, a game participant may travel to differentinteractive installations 26 while carrying a mobile device 12, 14 or 16to communicate with game server 38, web server 42 and/or content server46 to receive a gaming experience based, at least in part, on a “gamestate” associated with the game participant. Such a gaming experiencemay also be tailored to locations of a participant during game-play.

According to an embodiment, a game participant and/or an associatedmobile device 12/14/16 may be associated with one or more game states inwhich the mobile device 12/14/16 may progress through multiple gamestates while delivering an interactive gaming experience to theparticipant. For example, a gaming experience may comprise a puzzlewhich is solvable by correctly answering or solving a series of riddlesor problems. Upon responding to such a riddle and/or problem, aparticipant and/or the participant's mobile device may advance to asubsequent game state where, for example, a new riddle and/or problemmay be presented. The subsequent game state may be selected based inpart on the participant's response. For example, the subsequent gamestate may be selected as a first game state when the response is correctand a second game state when the response is incorrect. Alternatively,or in addition, the participant's response may indicate a participant'schoice and the subsequent game state is determined in part by thatchoice.

Game state may be represented by any number of variables that arerelevant to a particular game. For example, game state may include ameasure of strength, wisdom, experience, tools collected, and/or thelike. Game state may comprise, or be based upon, participant specificattributes such as, for example, age, birth date, gender, personalpreferences, handicap status, and/or the like. Here, for example, suchattributes may be represented by information maintained by a game serveras metadata associated with a particular participant which, inparticular embodiments, may be forwarded to an interactive installation26 in response to detection of a presence of the particular participantat the interactive installation 26.

Components of game state may be affected by a player's behavior as theplayer interacts with the game. A game state may also be characterizedby particular actions that are enabled at that particular game state, aswell as information that is presented to the participant(s) in that gamestate. Here, for example, a particular game state may determine actionsthat a particular associated game participant may take or functions thatmay be available using a mobile communication device. Game state mayalso be affected by variables such as progress, or lack of progress,through various stages of a multi-stage game. In a multiplayer game, agame state associated with a particular participant may include ameasure of one or more of the aforementioned variables as applied toother participants in the game. For example, a game state associatedwith a particular participant in a multiplayer game may be based, atleast in part, on progress or lack of progress of other participants inthe game.

A game state may also include, or be based upon, environmental variablesthat quantify physical and virtual environmental variables that affectgame play, and may quantify the state of virtual characters or avatars.In one particular embodiment, a game experience may be provided to agame participant as an associated game state progresses. Here, such gamestate may progress as one or more variables affecting the game statechange over time.

According to an embodiment, game server 38 and/or content server 46communicates with one or more interactive installations 26 and/or mobiledevices 12/14/16 to provide an interactive gaming experience to a gameparticipant. For example, game content server 46 provides information toan interactive installation 26 and/or applications hosted on a mobiledevice for presentation to a game participant in an audible and/orvisual format. Also, game server 38 may receive information from amobile device 12/14/16 and/or interactive installation 26, andcommunicate with one or more mobile devices 12/14/16 and/or interactiveinstallations 26 to affect a gaming experience for one or moreinteractive game participants.

A mobile device 12/14/16 and/or game participant may be associated witha “location” comprising information associated with a whereabouts ofsuch a mobile device. 12/14/16 and/or game participant according to apoint of reference. For example, such a location may be represented asgeographic coordinates such as latitude and longitude. Location mayrepresent proximity to an interactive installation 26 or simply that amobile device is able to communicate with a particular interactiveinstallation 26. Alternatively, such a location may be represented as aproximity to a particular geographic reference point or landmark, streetaddress, municipality or other political subdivision, postal zip codeand/or the like. According to an embodiment, game server 38 affects aninteractive gaming experience for a game participant at a mobile device12/14/16 based, at least in part, on a game state associated with themobile device 12/14/16 and/or a location of the mobile device 12/14/16.For example, while a mobile device 12/14/16 and/or participant is inproximity to a particular interactive installation 26 and a particulargame state exists, game server 38 communicates with the particularinteractive installation 26 in a manner that is compatible with theparticular game state and/or location. For example, such a communicationfrom game server 38 may comprise a command to provide one or morespecial effects to a game participant located at the interactiveinstallation 26. Similarly, game server 38 may communicate with theparticular mobile device 12/14/16 at the particular game state fortransitioning to a subsequent game state that is compatible with beingin such proximity to the particular interactive installation 26.

An interactive installation 26 may comprise an input device 30 toreceive stimuli from game participants, an output device 28 to providestimuli and an effects controller 34 to integrate input device 30 andoutput device 28 with other elements of gaming system 10. Output device28 may comprise one or more devices capable of providing sensory stimulito an interactive game participant including, for example, visualdisplays, audio output devices, electromechanically controlled devices(e.g., animated robots, door/window openers, force feedback, air jets,liquid sprays, scent sprays, vending machine access, activating alocking device to open/close a lock, and/or the like). Here, such anoutput device 28, by itself and/or in combination with other outputdevices 28, may provide special effect that may be experienced by a gameparticipant at or in proximity to the interactive installation 26. Sucha special effect may be initiated and/or controlled by commands fromgame server 38, for example.

Input device 30 may comprise one or more devices capable of receivinginformation specific to the location of interactive installation 26including devices such as microphones, cameras, environmental sensors(e.g., light, temperature, vibration and moisture), electro-mechanicalswitches and/or actuators. Interactive installation 26 may exist at afixed location in the game environment, or may be mobile such that itsposition changes during game play. Interactive installation 26 may bemanned or unmanned. In some cases interactive installation 26 may beintegrated with a character costume. Effects controller 34 may comprisea computing platform which is adapted to communicate with input device30 and output device 28 as peripheral devices over standard orspecial-purpose peripheral device interfaces. Examples of standardinterfaces include Universal Serial Bus (USB), Firewire, Bluetooth,wireless communication protocols and/or the like. Here, special effectscontroller 34 may perform signal processing, datacompression/decompression, data encoding/decoding of information to betransmitted between interactive installation 26 and game server 38and/or content server 46. Effects controller 34 may also comprise acommunication adapter to communicate with game server 38 and/or contentserver 46 over standard communication protocols such as TCP/IP and overdata links provided according to versions of IEEE Std. 802.3, IEEE Std.802.11 and/or the like.

According to an embodiment, an interactive installation 26 may alsocomprise a radio frequency identification (RFID) energizer/reader pair32 capable of detecting the presence of an RFID device 13/17, which isco-located with a game participant. When energizer/reader pair 32detects a presence of RFID device 13/17 in proximity to interactiveinstallation 26 (e.g., from RFID device 13/17 being within a detectionrange), energizer/reader pair 32 may extract an RFID code from areceived signal that is associated with an identity of a particular gameparticipant. With an interactive installation 26 being positioned at aknown geographical location (e.g., at an amusement park), detection ofsuch an RFID code associated with an identity of a game participant maybe used to approximate the location of the game participant at the knowngeographical location of interactive installation 26.

Since RFID device 13/17 may be carried and/or worn by a gameparticipant, according to a particular embodiment, a location of RFIDdevice 13/17 may be assumed to be the location of the game participant.Similarly, since such a game participant may also carry a mobile device12/14/16, it follows that a location of the mobile device 12/14/16 maybe assumed to be the same as that of the RFID device 13/17 and gameparticipant.

According to an embodiment, location server 40 maintains and updatesinformation indicating locations of game participants and/or mobiledevices 12/14/16 associated with game participants in an interactivegaming site. Here, for example, location server 40 may access and updatea database (not shown) associating game participants with locationinformation. Such location information may comprise, for example, a lastknown or approximated location of participants associated in recordswith information uniquely identifying the participants. Such locationinformation may be expressed as, for example, geographical coordinates(e.g., latitude and longitude or other geocode) or proximity toparticular points of interest such as particular interactiveinstallations 26. Location server 40 may update location informationassociated with a game participant in response to any one of severalevents such as, for example, a detection at an interactive installation26 positioned at a known location of an RFID device 13/17, of a barcodesignature of a barcode label co-located with a participant and/or mobiledevice 12/14/16 or of a biometric signature associated with aparticipant. Alternatively, if a game participant co-located with mobiledevice 16 is communicating with a wireless access point 22 positioned atan interactive installation 26, location server 40 may update locationinformation based upon an association of the mobile device 16 with thelocation of the wireless access point 22. Here, for example, locationserver 40 may make such an association of mobile device 16 and wirelessaccess point 22 based, at least in part, on information (e.g., includinginformation uniquely identifying mobile device 16 and/or wireless accesspoint 22) in data packets received from mobile device 16 throughwireless access point 22. Similarly, if mobile device 16 and wirelessaccess point 22 have Bluetooth communication capabilities, locationserver 40 may make such an association of mobile device 16 and wirelessaccess point 22 based, at least in part, on detection of a MAC addressuniquely associated with mobile device 16 at wireless access point 22.In another alternative, a game participant's location may be determinedfrom a photograph taken by the game participant and forwardedelectronically. Using image recognition, one or more visual elements inthe photograph may be associated with a location such as an interactiveinstallation 26. In yet another alternative, a mobile device 12/14/16may determine its location from receipt of signals such as signalstransmitted by GPS satellites and/or other radio frequency signals andtransmit a message to location server 40 indicating such a determinedlocation.

In one embodiment, location server 40 may maintain records ofassociating signatures (e.g., RFID codes, biometric signatures and/orbarcode signatures) with particular game participants. In one particularimplementation, location server 40 may comprise location server 140 asshown in FIG. 2A. Here, interactive installations 126 _(a) through 126_(d) may be dispersed over a gaming site and positioned at knownlocations. As participant P approaches interactive installation 126_(a), an RFID energizer/reader pair (not shown) co-located withinteractive installation 126 _(a) may receive a signal from an RFIDdevice 13/17 associated with and attached to and/or co-located withparticipant P. Here, the RFID energizer/reader pair may demodulate thereceived signal to provide an RFID code that is associated with P in adatabase maintained by location server 140. Upon receipt of a messagefrom interactive installation 126 _(a) of detection of the signalcarrying the particular RFID code, the location server 140 may associatethe particular RFID code with participant P, and deduce that participantP is in proximity to interactive installation 126 _(a).

According to an embodiment, an RFID device 13/17 attached to and/orco-located with participant P may comprise a semi-active RFID device 134shown in FIG. 2B, which is adapted to transmit a signal in response tofirst receiving an initial signal transmission from anenergizer/receiver pair located with an interactive installation 126,rather than constantly transmit a signal. As illustrated in FIG. 2Baccording to a particular embodiment, an interactive installation 126may comprise an energizer/receiver pair having an RFID energizer 136 andan RFID receiver 138. In one particular embodiment, energizer/receiverpair 132 may comprise one or more components and/or systems provided byAxcess Inc. Here, RFID energizer 136 may transmit an initial signalencoded with information identifying the source energizer/reader pair.Upon receiving the initial signal, RFID device 134 may transmit a signalto RFID receiver 138 encoded with the information identifying the sourceenergizer/reader pair 132 and additional information identifying RFIDdevice 134 (e.g., RFID code associated with participant P). Upon receiptof such a response signal from RFID device 134 at energizer/reader pair132, location server 140 may determine that the RFID device 134 is inproximity to an interactive installation co-located with theenergizer/reader pair 132, for example. Additionally, such semi-activedetection of RFID device 134 may provide longer range detection than maybe possible with the use of passive RFID devices while avoiding falsedetections with the use of active RFID devices. In alternativeembodiments, however, an interactive installation may employ passiveand/or fully active RFID devices for detecting the presence of an RFIDdevice as being in proximity.

Returning to FIGS. 1A and 1B, in alternative embodiments, determining alocation of a game participant and/or mobile device 12/14/16 maycomprise, at an interactive installation 26, scanning a barcode labelco-located with the game participant. For example, a device comprising alabel with a barcode signature may be co-located with and/or fixed to agame participant and/or mobile device 12/14/16 associated with a gameparticipant. Location server 40 may uniquely associate the barcodesignature with the game participant. In one particular embodiment, whena participant arrives at an interactive installation 26, an operator(not shown) may scan a barcode label (not shown) co-located with theparticipant. The interactive installation 26 may then transmitinformation to location server 40 representing the scanned barcodesignature with information identifying the particular interactiveinstallation 26 where the label was scanned. Upon receipt of theinformation representing the scanned barcode signature, location server40 may deduce that the game participant associated with the scannedbarcode signature is in the vicinity of the interactive installation 26(where the barcode label was scanned).

In another alternative embodiment, determining location of a gameparticipant and/or mobile device 12/14/16 may comprise, at aninteractive installation 26, detecting a biometric signature associatedwith the game participant. Such a biometric signature may comprise, forexample, a retinal scan, finger print and/or palm print. Here, locationserver 40 may uniquely associate such a biometric signature with thegame participant. Accordingly, by obtaining such a biometric signaturefrom a game participant upon arrival at an interactive installation 26,the interactive installation 26 may transmit information representativeof the scanned biometric signature to location server 40. Locationserver 40 may then deduce that the game participant associated with thescanned biometric signature is in the vicinity of the interactiveinstallation 26 (where the biometric signature was detected).

In other alternative embodiments, determining location of a gameparticipant and/or mobile device 12/14/16 may comprise, for example,using positioning system (e.g., global positioning satellite or “GPS”)capabilities of a mobile device, detection of mobile device 12/14/16communicating with an IEEE Std. 802.11 hotspot at a known location orwith a an IEEE Std. 802.16 base station at a known location, forexample. Here, for example, a mobile device 12/14/16 may directlycommunicate with a location server 40 to provide location informationsuch as, for example, geographical coordinates or specific mobilecommunication access points at known locations. Such a mobile device12/14/16 may provide periodic updates to a location server 40 inresponse to polling signals from the location server 40. Alternatively,a location server 40 may query the mobile device 12/14/16 for locationinformation in response to a query from game server 38, for example.

According to an embodiment an interactive game system operator mayregister individual game participants by creating records associatedwith the game participants in a database comprising information gatheredas part of a registration process. Such records may be used to collectand maintain information regarding game participants such as, forexample, name, age, birth date, food allergies, handicap status (e.g.,no known handicap, blind, deaf, wheelchair bound), gender, residenceaddress and/or any other information that may be associated withindividuals. This information that is gathered may be used to tailor agame experience to particular preferences or needs of a participant.

As part of a registration process, an interactive game system operatormay also issue RFID devices 13/17 to the participants and include RFIDcodes of the issued RFID devices 13/17 in database records associatedwith the individual game participants. Such an issued RFID device 13/17may comprise an RFID tag that is worn on a game participant's clothing,worn as a necklace, wristband and/or the like. Alternatively, aninteractive game system operator may issue barcode labels to theparticipants and maintain associated barcode signatures in databaserecords associated with the individual game participants. In anotheralternative, an interactive game system operator may obtain biometricsamples of participants (e.g., retinal scan, finger print, palm print)and maintain associated biometric signatures in database recordsassociated with the individual game participants. A location of aparticipant and/or mobile device 12 or 16 being carried by theparticipant may be determined based on a location of the worn RFIDdevice 13/17. Signatures associated with participants (e.g., RFID codes,barcode signatures and biometric signatures) may then be populated tolocation server 40 for use in detecting the presence of a participant atan interactive installation 26.

Alternatively, a game system operator may issue barcode labels to beattached to, carried, worn or otherwise be co-located with a gameparticipant. Here, a barcode signature of a barcode label may beassociated with a particular game participant in database records. Alocation of the game participant may then be determined based upon thelocation of the barcode label (e.g., at an interactive installation 26where such a barcode label is scanned by an operator).

As illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B, interactive installations 26 maycommunicate with game server 38, location server 40 and/or contentserver 46 over data links and according to one or more availablecommunication protocols. For example, an interactive installation 26 maytransmit messages to location server 40 in data packets indicatingdetections of RFID devices 13/17. Similarly, data packets may be used totransmit information between a game server 38 and an interactiveinstallation 26 in connection with information received from an inputdevice 30 or provided to an output device 28. Here, such communicationmay be enabled with Internet Protocol infrastructure supporting the useof UDP, TCP/IP, HTTP and/or the like. According to an embodiment,interactive installations 26 may be integrated with an interactivegaming system as “atomic” entities such that elements of an interactiveinstallation 26 are integrated with game server 38, location server 40and content server 46 over a single communication interface. Forexample, communication between an energizer/reader pair 32 and locationserver 40, and communication between a special effects controller 34 andgame server 38 and/or content server 46 may be transmitted through asingle communication adapter coupled to data communication network 36.Here, separate individual TCP/IP connections through the singlecommunication adapter may provide communication between elements of aninteractive installation 26 and game server 38 or location server 40.According to an embodiment, a game participant may be associated with amobile device 12/14/16 which is adapted to communicate with game server38 and/or content server 46 over, for example, a wireless communicationnetwork. Such a mobile device 12/14/16 may comprise a portable wirelesscommunication device, such as cellular phone 12 or cellular phone 14,capable of communicating with a base station 18 and mobile switchingcenter (MSC) 20 operated by a mobile communication service provider.Such a mobile communication service provider may comprise an entityand/or enterprise that is separate and distinct from an interactive gameoperator providing the interactive gaming experience. Here, for example,such a mobile communication service provider may charge a fee from agame participant using cellular phone 12 or 14 comprising, for example,a subscription fee and/or per message fee. MSC 20 may transmit datapackets between mobile devices 12/14 and game server 38 and/or contentserver 46 over Internet 24 using a TCP/IP protocol and other higherlayer protocols, for example. Alternatively, a mobile device 16 maycommunicate with game server 38 and/or content server 46 over a wirelesslocal area network (WLAN) provided by one or more wireless access points22 dispersed over an area where game participants roam at hotspotsaccording to versions of IEEE Std. 802.11. In yet another alternative,mobile device 16 may communicate with game server 38 and/or contentserver 46 over a wireless metropolitan area network through basestations dispersed over a larger geographical area according to versionsof IEEE Std. 802.16. According to a particular embodiment, MSC 20 maycomprise any combination of equipment operated by a mobilecommunications service provider capable of transmitting informationbetween Internet 24 and mobile devices 12 and/or 14 according to any oneof several non-proprietary communication protocols. Such non-proprietarycommunication protocols may enable interoperable communication betweenand/or among devices which are established and operated by differententities. Accordingly, game participants may communicate with gaminginfrastructure of a game operator through a mobile communication serviceprovider (which is an entity separate from the game operator). Forexample, MSC 20 may comprise a short message service center (SMSC) incombination with a carrier messaging gateway to enable communicationbetween a mobile device 12/14 and game server 38 using text messagingaccording to a short message service (SMS). Other such non-proprietarycommunication protocols may include, for example, email (including POP3and/or SMTP), Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), Wireless Web, HTTP,TCP/IP, SIP, real-time streaming protocol (RSTP), IMAP, MMS, just toname a few. Accordingly, in alternative embodiments, MSC 20 may comprisea wireless carrier Internet gateway to enable communication between amobile device and game server 38 using any one of several Internetsupported protocols discussed herein.

Location server 40 may determine locations of game participants and/orassociated mobile devices 12/14/16 as interactive game participantsroam. In one embodiment, cellular phone 14 may comprise a receiver forprocessing signals from a satellite positioning system such as theGlobal Positioning System (GPS) to determine a geographical location ofcellular phone 14.

Alternatively, location server 40 may associate a participant and/ormobile device 12/14/16 with a RFID code of an RFID device 13/17 (such asan RFID tag) that is to be attached to or otherwise co-located with themobile device 12/14/16 and/or participant. According to a particularembodiment, location server 40 may determine a location of a participantand/or associated mobile device 12/14/16 as being in proximity to aninteractive installation 26 when an associated RFID energizer/readerpair 32 obtains an RFID code associated with the participant. Locationserver 40 may determine a location of a participant and/or associatedmobile device 16 based upon an identification of a particular IEEE Std.802.11 access point or IEEE Std. 802.16 base station at a known locationcommunicating with mobile device 16.

In yet another alternative, location server 40 may associate aparticipant and/or mobile device 12/14/16 with a barcode signature of abarcode label that is to be attached to or otherwise co-located with amobile device 12/14/16 and/or participant. Here, location server 40 maydetermine a location of a participant and/or associated mobile device12/14/16 as being in proximity to an interactive installation 26 when aco-located and associated barcode label is scanned at the interactiveinstallation 26. In yet another alternative, location server 40 mayassociate a participant and/or mobile device 12/14/16 with one or morebiometric signatures and determine a location of the participant and/orassociated mobile device 12/14/16 as being in proximity to aninteractive installation 26 when at least one of the biometricsignatures is detected at the interactive installation 26.

In addition to communicating with game server 38 over Internet 24, amobile device 12/14/16 may comprise one or more output devices such as,for example, a speaker for providing an audio output and a highresolution display capable of displaying text, video images and/or stillimages. Here, such output devices may be used for presenting informationrendered from media content received from game server 38 and/or contentserver 46, for example. According to an embodiment, media content may beencoded in a particular format that enables one or more mobile devices12/14/16 to render a presentation based, at least in part, oninformation encoded in such media content. Such devices may beimplemented in hardware, software, or combinations of hardware andsoftware. Such a presentation may comprise, for example, images, text,sounds, other perceivable environmental phenomena and/or combinationsthereof. In some embodiments, media content comprises information thatmay be used to render a presentation that is to be passively experiencedby a viewer or listener. Alternatively, media content may compriseinteractive media content which is responsive to inputs and/or stimulifrom a user. Such interactive media content may be implemented in aninteractive game to provide users with an interactive game experience,for example.

A mobile device 12/14/16 may also comprise one or more input devicessuch as, for example, a microphone, camera, keyboard, keypad,thumbwheel, button or touchpad, just to name a few. Here, such inputdevices may receive information for transmission from a participant toother elements of gaming system 10 such as, for example, game server 38.Here, such an input device in combination with one or more of theaforementioned output devices of a mobile device 12/14/16 may provide agraphical user interface (GUI) for receiving information. Also, such amobile device 12/14/16 may comprise a computing platform for hostingsoftware applications and/or processes capable of communicating withgame server 38 and/or content server 46.

FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram illustrating an architecture 200 ofsoftware hosted on a computing platform of a mobile device (e.g., mobiledevice 12, 14 or 16 as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B) for communicating withgame server 38 according to an embodiment. Display logic 202, inputlogic 204, network connectivity layer 208 and camera input 210 maycomprise standard software and/or firmware that is provided with amobile device or handset installed by a manufacturer or mobilecommunication service provider, for example. Game logic 206 may comprisean agent application that is launched to the mobile device 12/14/16specifically for the purpose of interacting with game server 38 toenable providing an interactive gaming experience to a game participant.In one embodiment, game logic 206 may be downloaded from game server 38by selection of a universal resource locator (URL) as part of a processto register a participant for an interactive game. Alternatively, gamelogic 206 may be installed from an insertible media device, such as aflash card, or through a connection to a personal computer such as aUSB, Firewire or Bluetooth connection. In alternative embodiments,architecture 200 may comprise a manufacturer's software build without anagent or other application provided by an interactive game operator.

FIG. 3B is a schematic diagram illustrating an architecture 300 ofsoftware hosted on game server 38 for communicating with elements of aninteractive gaming system according to an embodiment. While illustratedas a single computing platform for the purpose of convenientillustration, it should be understood that game server 38 may comprisemultiple computing platforms integrated to provide functionalitydescribed herein. Communications layer 302 may provide logic forcommunicating with mobile devices 12/14/16, location server 40 and/orinteractive installations 26 over a data communication networkcomprising, for example, Internet Protocol infrastructure. Here, forexample, communications layer may support UDP, TCP/IP, HTTP and/orhigher layer protocols. While interactive installations 26 may provideinfrastructure that may be adapted to different gaming experiences,scripting layer 306 may comprise context-specific rules and/or logicgoverning game states, outcomes and processes to provide acontext-specific gaming experience to participants. According to anembodiment, game engine 304 may comprise “middleware” for integratingscripting layer 306 with other applications hosted on an interactiveinstallations 26, location server 40 and/or mobile devices 12/14/16.Here, for example, game engine 304 may comprise an applicationprogramming interface (API) to which scripting layer 306 may invoke“calls” for communicating with location server 40, interactiveinstallations 26 and/or mobile devices 12/14/16 by specifying anappropriate handle and arguments. Such calls may be directed to, forexample, a query to location server 40 as to whether a specific gameparticipant is located at an interactive installation 26, a request tolocation server 40 to provide an alert when a specific game participantarrives at an interactive installation or a list of game participantspresently located at an interactive installation 26.

While scripting layer 306 may comprise context-specific game logic, gameengine 304 may be agnostic to any particular such context-specific gamelogic. Accordingly, interactive installations 26, location server 40 andother gaming infrastructure may be preserved while a different orupdated scripting layer 306 is integrated with game engine 304 to givegame participants a new and/or updated interactive gaming experience.Likewise, by providing an interface to atomic interactive installations26, interactive installations 26 may be added to or removed frominteractive gaming system 10 without modifying the scripting layer 306.

According to an embodiment, game engine 304 comprises middleware thatmay be readily transported to computing platforms at different game-playsites without substantial modification. Here, scripting layer 306 may betailored to features of interactive installations at a different siteand/or specific game features to be provided. Also, game engine 304 mayintegrate context-specific game logic of multiple interactive games on asingle computing platform for providing multiple interactive games overa single site.

Game engine 304 may also communicate with a user game state database 310through a database layer 308 storing information such as, for example,information associated with game participants such as personal profiles,participant specific information such as personal preferences, age,birth date, gender, residence and/or handicap status, informationidentifying a mobile device and game state. Here, scripting layer 306may access information in database 310 by invoking calls to game engine304. Such calls may comprise, for example, queries for specificinformation in database 310 retrievable through game engine 304 anddatabase layer 308.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating interactions of softwarecomponents relating to a game server such as game server 38 according toan embodiment of a network 400. Game engine 406 may communicate withapplications hosted on one or more mobile devices (such as mobiledevices 12/14/16 shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B) through network 424 and/orwireless network 420. In the particularly illustrated embodiment,network 424 may comprise Internet Protocol infrastructure capable oftransmitting information between devices according to the InternetProtocol. As such, game engine 406 may communicate with processes hostedon location server (e.g., location server 40 in FIGS. 1A and 1B) and/orinteractive installations (e.g., an interactive installation 26 in FIG.1A) through network 424. Additionally, streaming content layer 408 maybe adapted to provide media content to a mobile device 12/14/16 and/orinteractive installation 26 from content data files 412. A statisticslayer 418 may collect information regarding events of interest to bemaintained in database 422 for later evaluation and analysis. A databaselayer 416 may be adapted to control access by game engine 406 and/orstatistics layer 418 to database 422.

According to an embodiment communication layer 404 may facilitaterouting of messages between scripts at scripting layer 414 (and throughgame engine 406) and a mobile device 12/14/16, location server 40 and/orinteractive installations 26. Here, for example, communication layer 404may establish and terminate connections such as TCP/IP connections usedfor transmitting information between a mobile device 12/14/16 associatedwith game participants and context-specific game logic of scriptinglayer 414. Scripting layer 414 may access game state scripts 426 whichmay comprise information describing specific actions to be taken forparticular game participant game states, for example.

According to an embodiment, game engine 406 and/or communication layer404 may queue messages for transmission to mobile devices 12/14/16 inresponse to calls from scripting layer 414 in message queue 402.Messages in a queue for transmission to a mobile device 12/14/16 orinteractive installation 26 may be maintained in an order that is to beprocessed by game logic hosted on the mobile device 12/14/16 as part ofan interactive gaming experience and/or consistent with propertransition in game state. In one particular embodiment, followingtransmission of a message to a mobile device 12/14/16 from message queue402, communication layer 404 and/or game engine 406 may require anindication of receipt of the transmitted message at the intendedrecipient device before transmitting a subsequent message to theintended recipient device. For example, communication layer 404 and/orgame engine 406 may transmit such a subsequent message from messagequeue 402 upon receipt of an acknowledgement message from the intendedrecipient device.

Also, mobile devices 12/14/16 and interactive installations 26 maysimilarly queue messages for transmission to game engine 406 through IPnetwork 424. Here, such messages may be maintained in an order that isto be processed by particular scripts in scripting layer 414. Again, asubsequent message in message queue 402 may be transmitted upon adetermination that a previous message had been received at game engine406.

According to an embodiment, mobile devices 12/14/16 communicating withgame engine 406 may transmit periodic “heartbeat” messages tocommunication layer 404 for maintaining connections with game engine 406and/or scripting layer 414. Following establishing one or moreconnections between a mobile device 12/14/16 and game engine 406 and/orscripting layer 414, communication layer 404 may terminate or sever oneor more of the established connections in response to an absence ofreceipt of a heartbeat message from the mobile device 12/14/16 over apredetermined time period. In an alternative embodiment, communicationlayer 404 may transmit periodic heartbeat messages to mobile devices12/14/16 having connections with game engine 406 and/or scripting layer414. Here, a mobile device 12/14/16 may terminate or sever one or moreof its connections to game engine 406 and/or scripting layer 414 inresponse to an absence of receipt of a heartbeat message fromcommunication layer 404 over a particular time period.

According to an embodiment game engine 406 may communicate with alocation server (e.g., location server 40 shown in FIG. 1) fordetermining locations of mobile devices 12/14/16. In one particularembodiment, scripting layer 414 may call game engine 406 for an alertupon detection of a mobile device 12/14/16 being in proximity to aninteractive installation 26. Such a call may be invoked, for example, inresponse to detection of a particular gaming state of a participantassociated with the mobile device 12/14/16. In response to such a callfrom scripting layer 414, for example, game engine 406 may transmit amessage to the location server 40 requesting that the location server 40provide an alert upon detection of a mobile device 12/14/16 being inproximity to a particular interactive installation 26. Such a messagemay specify, for example, information identifying particular mobiledevices 12/14/16 and/or game participants of interest and particularinteractive installations. Such information identifying a particularmobile device 12/14/16 and/or game participants may comprise informationrepresentative signatures such as, for example, associated RFID codes,barcode signatures or biometric signatures. Upon detecting that aparticular mobile device 12/14/16 and/or game participant in proximityto a particular interactive installation of interest, the locationserver 40 may transmit a message back to game engine 406 to report thisevent. In an alternative embodiment, location server 40 mayautomatically update game engine 406 and/or scripting layer 414 onchanges in location of mobile devices and/or associated gameparticipants.

Returning to FIG. 3A, game logic 206 hosted on a mobile device 12/14/16may comprise a custom application compiled from source code developed inany one of several programming environments such as, for example, Java,j2me, BREW, Windows CE API, C, C++, Adobe Flash, Adobe Flash Lite and/orthe like. In one particular embodiment location server 40 and/or gameserver may pair a mobile device 12/14/16 executing this application witha unique signature such as a biometric signature, barcode signature of abarcode label or a unique RFID code of an RFID device 13/17 to beco-located with the mobile device 12/14/16 and/or game participantcarrying the mobile device 12/14/16. Accordingly, a location of a gameparticipant may be determined as the location of an RFID device 13/17 orbarcode label being carried and/or worn by the game participant.Likewise, a location of mobile device 12/14/16 carried by a gameparticipant may be determined as the location of an RFID device 13/17 orbarcode label being carried and/or worn by the game participant.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating interactions of softwarecomponents relating to a mobile device 12/14/16 to provide a gamingexperience to a game participant over a network 500 according to anembodiment. Hence, applications hosted on a mobile device 12/14/16 maycommunicate with game server 510 through communication layer 506,streaming content layer 508 and/or web client layer 526. As illustratedin FIG. 5 in a particular embodiment, communication layer 506, streamingcontent layer 508 and/or web client layer 526 may communicate with gameserver 510 through wireless network 520 and network 524 using any one ofseveral wirelessly enabled connections such as, for example, a directTCP/IP connection between game server 510 and mobile deviceapplications, common gateway interface (CGI), servlet connection, SMSpush registry, HTTP polling of a file associated with participant gamestate, e-mail connection, MMS and WAP push, just to name a few. Messagesfrom communication layer 506 to game server 510 may be enqueued inmessage queue 504 using techniques discussed above.

A game state machine 512 hosted on a mobile device 12/14/16 maycommunicate with game server 510 over wireless network 520 and network524 through a communication layer 506. Game state machine 512 maymaintain a current game state associated with a game participant andinform the game participant as to a next task, mission and/or objectivethat is required to advance to a subsequent game state. In oneparticular example for the purpose of illustration, game state machine512 may inform a game participant of a need to find and climb aparticular structure (e.g., a statue) in a garden. Upon reaching and/orclimbing the structure, game server 510 may transmit a message to statemachine 512 to advance the participant to a subsequent game state. Gamestate machine 512 may then communicate with presentation layer 516 toinform the participant of completion of the present task, mission and/orobjective and inform the participant of a subsequent task, missionand/or objective.

Here, accordingly, game server 510 may transmit a message to game statemachine 512 hosted on a mobile device 12/14/16 to advance a game stateof a participant based, at least in part, on a location of the mobiledevice 12/14/16 and/or participant. According to a particularembodiment, location server 40 may determine locations of mobile devices12/14/16 and/or game participants as being in proximity to aninteractive installation 26. In one embodiment, with knowledge of aparticipant's current game state, game server 510 may request thatlocation server 40 provide an alert message to inform game server 510when the participant approaches an interactive installation 26 (e.g.,detecting an RFID code from an RFID device 13/17 associated with theparticipant and/or mobile device 12/14/16). Here, game server 510 maydetermine that such an interactive installation 26 is relevant to theparticipant's current game state. Alternatively, game server 510 mayrepeatedly poll the location server 40 to determine whether theparticipant has arrived at a particular location. In another embodiment,game state machine 512 may coordinate with location server 40 to affectobjects located at an interactive installation 26. Initially, gameserver 510 may determine that a participant and/or mobile device12/14/16 associated with game state machine 512 has a game state and/orlocation that is appropriate for affecting such objects at aninteractive installation 26. Upon such a determination, in a particularexample, game server 510 may transmit a message to presentation layer516 to display a prompt instructing the participant to unlock a door bymaking a selection at a user interface of a mobile device 12/14/16(e.g., press a key or make a selection from a GUI). Such a selection mayinitiate transmission of a message to game server 510, which in turn maytransmit a message to an interactive installation 26 to unlock the door.

An intention of a current game may be to only allow registered gameparticipants to pass through the door. If the participant makes theselection at the mobile device 12/14/16 to unlock the door prior tobeing at or in front of the door, game server 510 may prevent the doorfrom unlocking, thereby preventing a non-participant from enteringthrough the door. In one particular embodiment, in response to aselection at a mobile device 12/14/16 to unlock the door, game statemachine 512 may transmit a message to game server 510 includinginformation identifying the mobile device 12/14/16 and/or associatedparticipant (e.g., RFID code associated with mobile device 12/16 and/orassociated participant). Upon receiving such a message, game server 510may query a location server 40 to confirm the location of the gameparticipant. In one particular example, game server 510 may requestand/or query from location server 40 for a list of RFID codes receivedfrom RFID devices by an RFID reader installed at the door. Game server510 may then selectively transmit a message to the interactiveinstallation 26 to unlock the door in response to confirming withlocation server 40 that the participant is at or in front of the door.

According to an embodiment game server 510 may employ any one of severaltechniques for associating a game participant and/or mobile device witha game state. For example, such a game state may be determined frominformation in a database regarding past game states, inputs and/ormessages received from the participant and/or mobile device 12/14/16,associated interactions with interactive installations 26, and/or thelike. Alternatively, game server 510 may receive messages from gamestate machine 512 hosted on a mobile device 12/14/16, updating gameserver 510 as to a current associated game state. According to anembodiment, a mobile device 12/14/16 may be capable of rendering mediacontent for presentation to a game participant through one or moreoutput devices of the mobile device 12/14/16. Such media content maycomprise, for example, video, audio, text, or still image formats and/orthe like. Such media content may be delivered to the mobile device usingany one of several techniques such as, for example, streaming, loadingthe media content as part of an application that is launched to themobile device and/or transmitting the media content (e.g., wirelessly)for storage on a storage medium on the mobile device 12/14/16 forretrieval by an application. Also, game server 510 may transmit mediacontent for presentation on a mobile device 12/14/16, which is thenpresented to the game participant in an intended format.

In one particular embodiment a mobile device may receive media contentfor presentation from a Universal Resource Identifier (URI). Here, forexample, game server 510 may transmit a message to game state machine512 including a URI for presentation to a participant throughpresentation layer 516. Upon selecting the URI (e.g., as a web linkpresented on a display) to obtain media content through either streamingcontent layer 508 and/or web client layer 526. Here, such media contentmay be delivered to presentation layer 516 (e.g., from web server 502)using any one of several suitable wirelessly enabled communicationprotocols such as, for example, HTTP, TCP/IP, SIP, WAP, real-timestreaming protocol (RTSP), SMS, IMAP, POP3, SMTP, MMS, to name a few.According to an embodiment game server 510 may provide media content forrendering presentation to a game participant through presentation layer516 based, at least in part, on a location of the participant and/or anassociated game state. Here, game server 510 may select media content tobe delivered and/or rendered for presentation to a participant based, atleast in part, on a game state associated with a mobile device 12/14/16and/or location of the participant. Additionally, camera layer 514 maybe adapted to format and/or encode image data captured at a cameradevice (not shown) for transmission to web server 502 or other devicesthrough streaming content layer 508 and/or web client layer 526.

Upon selection of such media content, in one particular embodiment, gameserver 510 may formulate and transmit a URI to a mobile device 12/14/16.Accordingly, game server 510 may tailor particular media content that isto be provided to presentation layer 516 by appropriately determiningand/or formulating a URI that is to be transmitted to an associatedmobile device 12/14/16. Such a URI may comprise a link addressed tospecific media content selected for presentation to a game participantat a mobile device 12/14/16 based, at least in part, on a game stateand/or location. Such a URI may be addressed, for example, to a processhosted on web server 502. Upon selection of the URI at the mobile device12/14/16, for example, media content such as audio and/or video contentmay be streamed to presentation layer 516 through streaming contentlayer 508. Alternatively, non-streamed audio, video, text and/or stillimagery media content may be provided to presentation layer 516 throughweb client layer 526. According to an embodiment, a participant maycommunicate with game server 510 using text messaging according to theaforementioned SMS protocol. For example, an interactive game operatormay issue an RFID device 13/17, such as an RFID tag to a participant(e.g., to be worn by the participant) that is to use a mobile phone withtext messaging capabilities. The game operator may then associate thetelephone number of the mobile phone with an RFID code associated withthe issued RFID in a database accessible by game server 510. Such atelephone number may be populated to a location server 40 in associationwith the RFID code, for example. Game server 510 and/or a locationserver 40 detecting a presence of the RFID code at an RFID readerlocated at an interactive installation 26 can determine that the mobilephone is in proximity to the interactive installation 26. Game server510 may then transmit text messages to the participant based, at leastin part, on the location of the participant and/or a game stateassociated with the mobile phone.

According to an embodiment, associating a telephone number of a textmessaging enabled mobile phone 12 with an RFID code in a database mayestablish an initial game state for the mobile phone 12. In this initialgame state, for example, a context-specific game script hosted on gameserver 510 may transmit an initial instruction to a participant as atext message. Referring to the previous example of enabling theunlocking of a door, such a text message may instruct the participant togo to a locked door at a given location and reply to the message with atext message comprising the word “unlock.” Here, such a text message tothe mobile phone 12 from server 510 may be transmitted through a carriernetwork operated by a mobile communication service provider, forexample, through a message aggregator or exposed messaging APIs directlyinto the service provider's messaging system. The participant mayrespond to the message, with a text message comprising the word“unlock,” which may be sent to game server 510 along with the telephonenumber of the mobile telephone 12 through an appropriate messaging APIsuch as a Short Message Peer-to-Peer (SMPP) Message service, forexample. In a particular embodiment, such an SMPP message service may beprovided, at least in part, by SMPP server 48.

Continuing with the currently illustrated example, a context-specificgame script hosted on game server 510 may associate a phone number withthe text message containing the word “unlock” and determine a game stateassociated with the mobile phone 12. The context-specific game scriptmay then call an associated game engine to obtain RFID codes (e.g.,obtained from a location server 40) associated with mobile devicesand/or participants located at the locked door in question. If the RFIDcode associated with the mobile phone 12 is among the RFID codesreceived associated with mobile devices and/or participants located atthe locked door in question, the context-specific game script may callthe game engine to initiate transmission of a message to the associatedinteractive installation to unlock the door. Otherwise, thecontext-specific game script may call the game engine to transmit anappropriate text message to the phone number of the mobile phone 12.Accordingly, a message “unlock” on a mobile device 12/14/16 provides apresentation of media content at the mobile device 12/14/16 while aspecial effect external to the mobile device (unlocking the door) isinitiated based, at least in part, on a location of the mobile deviceand/or an associated game state.

According to a particular embodiment, a mobile communication serviceprovider may transmit text messages between game server 510 and textmessaging enabled mobile phones. Such a mobile communication serviceprovider may charge a fee to game participants for the service offorwarding such text messages between a mobile device 12/14 and gameserver 510. According to an embodiment, an interactive game operator mayestablish an arrangement with one or more such mobile communicationservice providers for payment to the interactive game operator forprocessing text messages at game server 510. Here, for example, aninteractive game operator may receive a flat fee or a per message feefor text messages transmitted from or received at game server 510through the mobile communication service provider.

In an alternative embodiment, media content may be pre-stored on amemory device of a mobile device 12/14/16. Such pre-stored media contentmay comprise, for example, encoded audio and/or video signals. Upondetection of one or more particular conditions, game server 510 maytransmit a message to the mobile device to initiate presentation of themedia content on the mobile device. Such conditions may comprise, forexample, detection of the mobile device 12/14/16 at a particularlocation (e.g., interactive station) and/or game state associated withthe mobile device 12/14/16. In addition to transmitting a message toinitiate presentation of the media content, game server 510 may alsoinitiate a presentation of a special effect external to the mobiledevice 12/14/16 (e.g., a special effect generated by an interactiveinstallation 26 in proximity to the detected location of the mobiledevice).

A mobile device 12/14/16 hosting game state machine 512 may communicatewith game server 510 using a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS),Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and/or Wireless Web protocol toprovide a visually rich interactive experience. Here, instead of usingSMS or direct IP protocols, game server 510 may transmit MMS, WAP and/orWireless Web messages to a mobile device 12/14/16 through a MultimediaMessaging Service Center (MMSC) of a mobile communication serviceprovider. Such message may include, for example, text, URIs, forms andmedia content (e.g., still images, audio, video, XHTML Mobile Profile(MP) games). Connectivity between a server 510 and a mobile device12/14/16 using MMS, WAP and/or Wireless Web may be established using anyone of several techniques.

According to an embodiment, server 510 may establish connectivity with amobile device 12/14/16 by transmitting a URI or list of URIs in an MMSor SMS message to the mobile device 12/14/16. From the mobile device12/14/16, a participant may select one or more of these URIs eitherdirectly or by selecting one or more XHTML-MP objects associated withthe URIs, for example. Here, such a selection of a URI may launch a webor WAP browser on the mobile device 12/14/16, and present one or morewebsites providing one or more interactive interfaces associated with agame state. From these websites, a participant may interact with gameserver 510 by transmitting messages via HTTP and/or WAP protocols, forexample, by calling CGI scripts linked to a connectivity layer of gameserver 510. The game server 510 may then respond back to the mobiledevice 12/14/16 using SMS, MMS, WAP and/or Wireless Web messages.

In an alternative embodiment, server 510 may establish connectivity witha mobile device by providing a web form in a body of an MMS, WAP and/orWireless Web message transmitted to the mobile device 12/14/16. Inresponding to the message by submitting the form with requestedinformation, the mobile device 12/14/16 may call a CGI script at webserver 502 to pass the requested information to game server 510. Gameserver 510 may then process the requested information, and initializeand/or update an associated participant's game state. Game server 510may then respond to the mobile device 12/14/16 with a subsequent MMS,WAP and/or Wireless Web message.

In another alternative embodiment, game server 510 may establishconnectivity with a mobile device 12/14/16 by providing one or more WAPand/or HTML pages to a mobile device 12/14/16 according to a WAP-pushprotocol, or in response to polling from a browser hosted on the mobiledevice 12/14/16. The one or more WAP and/or HTML pages may providelinks, and forms permitting a game participant to transmit messages toand receive messages from server 510 via a CGI, for example.

A game participant and/or associated mobile device 12/14/16 maytransition through a progression of game states while interactivelyengaging with an interactive gaming system. In a particular embodiment,game states may be associated with tasks, puzzles and/or missions that aparticipant may complete, solve and/or accomplish, etc. For example, aparticipant at a particular game state may complete, solve and/oraccomplish an associated task, objectives, puzzle and/or mission as aprerequisite for transitioning to a subsequent game state. According toan embodiment, a game participant may access “help” information forobtaining a hint and/or clue with the purpose of assisting the gameparticipant in doing what is need to transition to the next game state,for example. For example, help layer 520 may receive a selection from aparticipant at a user interface of a mobile device 12/14/16 to receivesuch a hint and/or clue. Such a selection may be made, for example, bydepressing a key on a keyboard or keypad and/or making a selection froma GUI to initiate a message to game server 510 requesting help. Gameserver 510 may have knowledge of a game state of a participant and/orassociated mobile device 12/14/16. With knowledge of the particular gamestate and/or location of the participant, game server 510 may respondwith a message to presentation layer 516 for the presentation of a hintand/or clue to the participant through the mobile device 12/14/16 in avisual and/or audio format. Here, a hint or clue may be tailored to aspecific location of the game participant and/or associated mobiledevice 12/14/16. In a particular example, such a location-based cluemessage may refer to an object and/or landmark visible at an interactiveinstallation 26 such as a flag with a certain number of objects. Such alocation-based clue message may direct the game participant to count theobject on the flag to answer a question and progress to a subsequentgame state.

According to an embodiment, game server 510 may store multiple hintsand/or clues for a particular game state differing in explicitness. Inaddition, to be based on game state, such multiple hints and/or cluesmay be based, at least in part, on locations of the recipient gameparticipants. A participant may request multiple hints and/or clues forassistance in attempting to progress to a subsequent game state. Here,in response to successive selections for assistance through help layer520, while in a particular game state, game server 510 may provideincreasingly explicit hints and/or clues. For example, after selectinghelp for a first clue and then struggling to transition to the next gamestate, a participant may select help for a second, more explicit, clue.Eventually, the participant may select help to receive a final cluetelling the participant exactly how to transition to the subsequent gamestate.

According to an embodiment, a game participant may attempt to solvemultiple puzzles and/or problems simultaneously. Here, for example,presentation layer 516 may display information on a screen relating to acurrently selected one of multiple puzzles for which a participant iscurrently providing inputs to solve. Here, help layer 520 may interpreta selection for help in a context sensitive manner and request help fromgame server 510 for the puzzle currently selected for display on thescreen.

According to an embodiment game server 510 may keep track of how long aparticipant and/or associated mobile device 12/14/16 is in any one gamestate. Here, if game server 510 determines that a participant has beenin a game state for an extended period of time, game server 510 maytransmit a message to the mobile device 12/14/16 for presentation of anaudio and/or visual invitation for a hint and/or clue, which may assistthe participant in advancing to the next game state. Additionally, sucha hint and/or clue may be based, at least in part, on a location of theparticipant and/or associated mobile device 12/14/16. By making anappropriate selection through help layer 520, the participant may chooseto accept the clue or deny the clue. In response to the participantselecting to accept the clue, help layer 520 may respond with a messageto game server 510, which in turn provides a subsequent message to themobile device 12/14/16 for presentation of the hint and/or clue. Here,for example, an invitation to a clue and/or hint may comprise a URIwhich is selectable to obtain media content from web server 502 such asa flash file through web client layer 526 or streamed for media contentthrough streaming content layer 508. Alternatively, an initial messagefrom game server 510 inviting the participant to receive a clue (e.g.,after being in a particular game state for a duration) may betransmitted with an applet. Here, the participant's selection to acceptthe clue may launch the applet to the mobile device 12/14/16 to presentthe participant with the audio and/or visual clue. Selecting to refusethe clue may merely delete the applet from the mobile device 12/14/16.

According to an embodiment, a participant through help layer 520 mayrequest game server 510 for help from another participant. Here, therequesting participant may specify a specific participant from whom therequesting participant desires assistance. In the absence of specifyingsuch a participant, context-specific script logic hosted on game server510 may select one or more other participants to provide assistance.Communication between an assisting participant and assisted participantmay be provided using any one of several methods. For example, mobiledevices 12/14/16 of respective assisting and assisted participants maybe provided with a communication channel comprising direct textmessaging, voice and/or video transmission capabilities. Alternatively,the assisting participant may perceive the particular problem facing theparticipant needing assistance, and forward a suggestion to the mobiledevice 12/14/16 of the participant needing assistance. Such a suggestionmay be presented on the mobile device of the participant needingassistance as a text, still image, audio and/or video message, forexample.

According to an embodiment a mobile device 12/14/16 may host anapplication to emulate adjustments being made to a camera such as, forexample, pan, tilt and zoom adjustments in response to inputs being madeto a user interface of the mobile device 12/14/16. In response to suchadjustments, an associated virtual camera image displayed on the mobiledevice 12/14/16 may be manipulated in kind according to the emulatedadjustments. Such an application may be implemented in any one of aplurality of environments such as, for example, XHTML, WAP, or a customapplication interface written in a suitable programming languages suchas, for example, Java, J2ME, C, C#, C++, .Net technology, Windows CE, toname a few. Here, using techniques known to those of ordinary skill inthe art, web server 502 may periodically poll image data (e.g., once persecond or ten times per second) from one or more Internet Protocolcameras (not shown) positioned to capture an image from a scene inreal-time. Web server 502 may partition an image from the IP camerasinto a matrix of tiles which are selected and/or configured to provide avirtual camera image to a mobile device 12/14/16 in response to theemulated adjustments using techniques known to those of ordinary skillin the art. Accordingly, web server 502 may provide an encoded imageemulating responses to adjustments to the virtual camera when displayedon the mobile device 12/14/16.

In addition to being affected by emulated camera adjustments, such avirtual camera image may be based, at least in part, upon a locationassociated with the mobile device 12/14/16 receiving the virtual cameraimage. Here, for example, a virtual camera image provided to a mobiledevice 12/14/16 may comprise a particular view of an object that isconsistent with how the object is positioned and/or oriented relative tothe mobile device 12/14/16. In a particular embodiment such a virtualcamera image may change as the mobile device 12/14/16 changes locationin a game-play area.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating interactions of softwarecomponents relating to an interactive installation 26 to provide agaming experience to game participants over a network 600 according toan embodiment. Here, a controller state machine 616 may be adapted tocommunicate with a game server 602 and/or web server 610 throughcommunication layer and message queue 612. Message queue 612 may beadapted to enqueue messages addressed to either game server 602 or webserver 610 using techniques illustrated above.

Controller state machine 616 may be implemented in a special effectscontroller 34, included as part of an interactive installation 26, tocommunicate with game server 602, and interact with wired sensors 624and wireless sensors 604, and other wired devices 622 connected to thespecial effects controller through external device layer 618. Controllerstate machine 616 may be adapted to operate according to locally storedcontroller state scripts based, for example, on particular conditionsand/or states of such an interactive installation 26. Also, such aninteractive installation 26 may also be co-located with one or moresensors capable of detecting signatures associated with a gameparticipant such as, for example, a barcode scanner, biometric sensorand/or RFID energizer/reader pairs (e.g., RFID energizer/reader pair 32shown in FIG. 1 or RFID energizer/reader pair 136/138 shown in FIG. 2B)connected to a location server 40 via network 608.

Accordingly, using such sensors to detect signatures associated with agame participant may be used to detect a game participant's arrival orpresence in an area about the interactive installation 26. In oneparticular embodiment, such information detecting presence of a gameparticipant may comprise information representing a signature associatedwith the game participant, for example, which may be transmitted to gameserver 602. Here, game server 602 may associate such information with anidentity of the associated game participant, and forward metadata tocontroller state machine 616 which includes information unique to theparticipant (e.g., associated with the game participant's identity in adatabase). Controller state machine 616 may then initiate generation ofa special effect at the interactive installation 26 based, at least inpart, on the information unique to the participant. Such informationunique to the participant may be representative of the participant'sage, gender, birth date or personal preferences, just to name a fewexamples.

Sensors 604 and 624 may comprise any one of several devices capable ofreceiving physical inputs from a game participant such as, for example,push buttons, pressure sensors, cameras, light sensors, vibrationsensors, just to name a few. Wired sensors 624 may be physicallyconnected to a computing platform (not shown) hosting controller statemachine 616 using any one of several interfaces such as, for example,USB, Firewire or Ethernet, just to name a few. In the presentlyillustrated embodiment, wireless sensors 604 communicate with controllerstate machine 616 through wireless network 606, network 608 andcommunication layer 614. In alternative embodiments, sensors maycommunicate directly with external device layer 618 using a wirelessconnection such as Bluetooth or IEEE Std. 802.11.

According to an embodiment, game server 602 may affect a game state of amobile device 12/14/16 in response to events at an interactiveinstallation 26 detected by controller state machine 616. In aparticular example provided for the purpose of illustration, aninteractive installation 26 may be positioned in a corner of a darkroom. Also, game server 602 may request that a location server 40provide an alert when a participant approaches the interactiveinstallation 26. As a game participant approaches the interactiveinstallation 26, while carrying a mobile device 12/14/16 and associatedRFID device 13/17 for example, an RFID reader may obtain an RFID codeassociated with the mobile device 12/14/16 and/or participant, andforward an alert comprising the RFID code to the location server 40.Upon receipt of the RFID code, context-specific script logic hosted ongame server 602 may determine that a light at the interactiveinstallation 26 should be turned on, and initiate transmission of amessage to controller state machine 616 to turn on the light. In oneembodiment, although claimed subject matter is not limited in thisrespect, such context-specific game logic may make such a determinationbased, at least in part, on a game state associated with the mobiledevice 12/14/16 and/or game participant. In response to the messageinitiated by the context-specific game logic, controller state machine616 may instruct external device layer 618 to turn on the light.Accordingly, game state and/or location associated with a gameparticipant and/or mobile device 12/14/16 may affect a response at aninteractive installation including generation of a special effect suchas turning on a light.

In another particular example, again for the purpose of illustration, agame state associated with a mobile device 12/14/16 and/or associatedparticipant may change in response to the participant's interaction withan interactive installation 26. Here, sensors 604 and/or 624 maycomprise an RFID reader and a pressure sensor placed on a target of aball throwing game. A participant may be informed (e.g., from a messagedisplayed on a mobile device 12/14/16) that his next assignment or taskis to throw a ball at the target, thereby activating the pressuresensor. In response to detecting a change in pressure at the pressuresensor, controller state machine 616 may transmit a message to gameserver 602 to indicate that the target has been hit. Upon receiving anindication that the target had been hit, context-specific script logichosted on game server 602 may initiate a request to a location server 40for a list of participants and/or mobile devices in proximity to thetarget. Location server 40 may respond to such a request with an RFIDcode associated with the participant hitting the target with the ball.Based upon the received RFID code, context-specific game logic maydetermine whether it is appropriate for the participant associated withthe RFID code to be at the ball throwing game based, for example, on agame state associated with the participant and/or associated mobiledevice 12/14/16. If appropriate, context-specific game logic mayinitiate transmission of a message to the mobile device for presentationof a response (e.g., text, audio and/or video and the like) indicatingcompletion of the ball-throwing step and advance the mobile deviceand/or associated participant to a subsequent game state.

According to an embodiment, although claimed subject matter is notlimited in this respect, game server 602 in combination with controllerstate machine 616 may coordinate interactive gaming to provide anexperience between and/or among multiple participants. In one particularexample, context-specific script logic hosted on game server 602 mayhave the participants work cooperatively to solve a problem or completea task, mission or objective. Upon detection of multiple participants atan interactive installation and determining game states associated withthe multiple participants, the context-specific script logic may directthe multiple participants to cooperatively interact with an interactiveinstallation 26 to solve a problem, or complete a task, mission orobjective.

According to an embodiment, although claimed subject matter is notlimited in this respect, game server 602 may affect a game mechanic atan interactive installation 26 upon detecting multiple participants atthe interactive installation 26. Such a game mechanic may comprise oneor more rules intended to guide an outcome of game play. In oneembodiment, a change in game mechanic may relate to changes in a task,mission and/or objective associated with one or more participants at aparticular game state. In another embodiment, a change in game mechanicmay relate to how an interactive installation 26 is to respond toactions of a game participant under certain conditions. In one example,a particular game state of a participant may imply a game mechanicrequiring the participant to start a motor located at an interactiveinstallation 26. As the participant approaches the motor, an RFID readerlocated at the motor may receive an RFID code associated with theparticipant. In response, context-specific script logic hosted on gameserver 602 may initiate transmission of a message to a mobile device12/14/16 associated with the participant, prompting the participant toprovide a “start motor” command as an input to the mobile device12/14/16 (e.g., depressing a key) to start the motor. Upon receiving thestart motor command from the mobile device 12/14/16, thecontext-specific game logic may initiate transmission of a message tocontroller state machine 616 to start the motor.

According to a particular embodiment, however, context-specific gamelogic may change this particular game mechanic in response to detectionof multiple participants located at the motor having the particular gamestate (e.g., arriving to the motor simultaneously) by, for example,requiring action by the multiple participants to start the motor. Forexample, upon receiving a start motor command from one such participantin the absence of a timely start motor command from at least one of theother participants, context-specific game logic may initiatetransmission of a message to mobile devices 12/14/16 associated with themultiple participants for presentation of an audio and/or visual message“your devices do not individually have sufficient power to start themotor, but they may collectively have sufficient power if you provideyour start motor commands simultaneously.” Upon receiving suchsimultaneous start motor commands from multiple mobile devices 12/14/16,the context specific game logic may initiate transmission of a messageto controller state machine 616 to start the motor.

The above example illustrates a game mechanic coordinating two or moregame participants at an interactive installation 26 as mutual alliesbased, at least in part, on locations of the one or more participants.In alternative embodiments, however, context-specific game logic mayprovide a game mechanic directing such co-located participants to act asopponents in affecting a game outcome. By affecting a game mechanic insuch a coordinated fashion, the two or more participants may advance agame state associated with at least one of the participants and/orinitiate presentation of one or more special effects. Here, for example,in response to detecting a presence of a game participant in an areawhile in a particular game state, context-specific game logic determineswhether there are any additional game participants in the area in thesame or similar game state. If such additional participants are in thearea, context-specific game logic transmits a message to the multipleparticipants indicating that the multiple participants must actsimultaneously to advance their respective game states. Context-specificgame logic may then wait an arbitrary duration of time to receive inputsfrom the multiple game participants and advance their respective gamestates in response.

According to an embodiment, game server 38 may be adapted to alter aninteractive gaming experience in real-time provided to multipleparticipants in an interactive gaming system according to apredetermined performance metric based, at least in part, on gameparticipant specific information. Such game participant specificinformation may comprise, for example, information stored in a databaseobtained as part of a registration process (e.g., age, gender, place ofresidence, handicap status, etc.) In another embodiment, such gameparticipant specific information may comprise, information indicative ofbehavior of at least one of the multiple participants. For example, withmultiple participants roaming among interactive installations 26 as partof an interactive gaming experience, there is a possibility ofcollisions when multiple participants have game states requiring theparticipants to perform the same actions, in the same place and at thesame time. It may be desirable to reduce the incidence of suchcollisions. Also, a theme park operator offering such an interactivegaming experience to attendees may desire to affect game play in amanner that assists with managing crowds in portions of the theme park.

In one particular example, a geographical area where interactive gamingis provided (e.g., a theme park) may be subdivided into game-play areas.Such game-play areas may be further subdivided into sub-missions. Toreduce the incidence of collisions, long lines, bottlenecks in game-playareas, etc., as a new participant commences playing, context-specificgame logic may assign the new participant to begin his first missionand/or complete his first task in a game-play area currently having thefewest players. Alternatively, context-specific game logic may assignthe new participant, to begin his first mission and/or complete hisfirst task in a game-play area having the greatest dispersion ofparticipant start-times and/or game-states. When a participant completesmissions and/or tasks in one game-play area, context-specific game logicmay perform additional calculations to direct the participant to anothergame-play area where there is a low likelihood of colliding with otherparticipants.

In alternative embodiments, human technicians at terminals incommunication with context-specific game logic may manually assignparticipants to game-areas and/or submissions as a new participantbegins or as a participant completes missions and/or tasks in agame-area, for example. In another alternative embodiment,context-specific game logic may change or affect game play to preventparticipants from colliding at an interactive installation 26. Forexample, if two participants having the same game state are likely tocollide at an interactive installation 26, a mobile device 12/14/16associated with a first one of the participants may receive a messageinitiated from context-specific game logic. The received message maypresent visual and/or audio instructions to wait for furtherinstructions while the second participant is permitted to complete atask and/or mission without collision. Once the second participantprogresses to the point of completing the task and/or mission withoutsubstantial risk of collision, for example, context-specific game logicmay initiate a subsequent message to the first participant to presentvisual and/or audio instructions to proceed to complete the task.

In one embodiment, game server 38 may dynamically alter an interactivegaming experience in real-time for one or more game participants bychanging an order of sub-missions associated with at least one of saidone or more game participants. Here, such a re-ordering of sub-missionsmay reduce congestion and/or the likelihood of collisions at aninteractive installation 26. In another embodiment, multipleparticipants may be associated into groups having an associated set ofsub-missions. Here, game server 38 may dynamically alter an interactivegaming experience by changing an order of sub-missions associated withat least one of the groups of participants.

In other embodiments, a game server 38 may be adapted to alter aninteractive gaming experience in aspects other than in reducing crowdingand/or the frequency of collisions. In addition or as an alternative toaffecting the routing of participants through game play in real-time,game server 38 may make other real-time adjustments to game play toalter performance based, at least in part, on game participant specificinformation. Such other adjustments may comprise, for example, makingcertain game objects and/or tasks easier or more difficult, changinghelp menus, altering paths between interactive installations to avoidcollisions or attract participants to information unrelated to game playsuch as advertising, just to name a few examples.

According to an embodiment, game server 38 may be adapted to alter aninteractive gaming experience for a game participant in real-time based,at least in part, on a handicap status associated with the gameparticipant. For example, game server 38 may establish certain tasks,missions and/or objects requiring physical activity that is not feasiblefor a wheelchair bound participant. Such physical activity may comprise,for example, climbing a statue, jumping and kicking objects, just toname a few. Here, game server 38 may alter and/or bypass such missionsto accommodate such a wheelchair bound participant based, at least inpart, on registration information stored in a database, for example.

According to an embodiment, game server 38 may affect how participantsare directed in real-time throughout game-play areas and/or sub-missionsbased, at least in part, on game participant specific informationcomprising logs of participant behavior (e.g., maintained in adatabase). In one embodiment, for example, such participant behavior maycomprise an order in which one or more players have attempted to solve aseries of game objectives. In another embodiment, such participantbehavior may comprise time spent by one or more participants at gamestates. Here, such information regarding time spent by participants atparticular games states may indicate a difficulty associated withcompleting certain objects or tasks to progress to a subsequent gamestate. Similarly, information regarding time spent by individuals tocomplete a full game may indicate a difficulty in completing the game.

According to an embodiment, a mobile device 12/14/16 associated with aparticipant may have camera functionality capable of capturing stilland/or video images. Here, game server 38 may attempt to alter, inreal-time, game play associated with one or more aspects of aninteractive gaming experienced based, at least in part, on gameparticipant specific information such as a number of images capturedand/or posted to game server 38 by one or more game participants over atime period.

In another embodiment, game server 38 may collect game participantspecific information comprising paths of game participants over a gamingarea based, at least in part, on obtaining RFID codes associated withparticipants at dispersed RFID readers (e.g., located at interactiveinstallations 26). Here, game server 38 may attempt to alter real-timegame play of one or more aspects of an interactive gaming experiencebased, at least in part, on information descriptive of such paths overthe gaming area.

In another embodiment, game server 38 may collect game participantspecific information comprising a number of help requests at particulargame states to evaluate the ease or difficulty associated with theparticular game states. Also, game server 38 may track the number oftimes that particular participants have requested to skip over tasksand/or puzzles to similarly evaluate the ease or difficulty associatedwith particular game states.

According to an embodiment, information obtained from sensor technologyalone may not be sufficient to evaluate a participant's performance in agame. A game task, mission and/or objective may comprise using a camerafunction of a mobile device 12/14/16 to take a digital photograph of anoak tree, or a task of using an audio recording function of a mobiledevice 12/14/16 to record a sound, etc., may be more reliably performedby a human being evaluating the photograph than by a feature recognitionalgorithm. By evaluating the participant's performance, the human judge,located at an operating terminal may transmit an “acceptance” message ora “denial” message to context-specific script logic hosted on a gameserver. Upon receipt of an acceptance message, for example, thecontext-specific logic script may advance the game participant and/or amobile device 12/14/16 to a subsequent game state and initiate a messageto the mobile device 12/14/16 for the display of the phrase “missionaccomplished” on a mobile device display. Upon receipt of a denialmessage, on the other hand, the context-specific logic may not advancethe game participant and/or mobile device 12/14/16 to a subsequent gamestate, and initiate transmission of a message to the mobile device12/14/16 for the display of the phrase “try again,” for example.

According to an embodiment, game server 38 may be adapted to alter inreal-time an interactive gaming experience provided to one or moreparticipants through interactive installations 26 dispersedgeographically over a site based, at least in part, on one or moreloading conditions. Such loading conditions may comprise, for example,availability of a resource such as power, water or personnel. Suchloading conditions may also comprise customer demand indicated by, forexample, a number of participants waiting in a queue to enter the sitefor interaction with the interactive installations 26. In one particularembodiment, game server 38 may monitor such loading conditions to enablesuch alterations to a gaming experience in real-time. Such alterationsmay, for example, enable the site to operate with reduced resources ifthe availability of such resources is constrained. Similarly, suchalterations may comprise adjusting a rate at which participants progressthrough the interactive gaming experience.

According to a particular embodiment, a human judge may provide inputsto a user interface of a human mediated gameplay terminal comprising acomputing platform capable of communicating with a game server using,for example, a message on an IP network. In one particular embodiment,as illustrated in FIG. 7, human mediated gameplay terminal 44 and ahuman judge may be remotely located from the participant and/orinteractive installation 26 where the participant is to perform a nexttask. Here, such a human mediated gameplay terminal 44 may communicatewith game server 702 through IP network 706. Accordingly, when theparticipant arrives at the interactive installation 26 and/or is at agame state where a human judge is to evaluate the participant's attemptto complete a subsequent task, game server 702 (having knowledge of thelocation of the participant and/or associated mobile device) maytransmit a message to an application hosted on the human mediatedgameplay terminal 44 to announce an arrival of the participant. Here,game server 702 may detect a presence and/or arrival of the gameparticipant by detection of a signature associated with the gameparticipant using any of the aforementioned techniques. In oneembodiment, upon detecting a game state, game server 702 may requestand/or set location server 40 to provide an alert message in response todetecting that the participant is located in proximity to an interactiveinstallation (e.g., by detecting an RFID code, barcode signature and/orbiometric signature associated with the participant at the interactiveinstallation).

As illustrated in FIG. 7, a human judge and human mediated gameplayterminal 44 may be located where a human judge may directly observe aparticipant completing a task. Here, for example, such a human mediatedgameplay terminal 44 may comprise a mobile communication device (notshown) that is capable of communicating with game server 702 throughwireless network 708. An application hosted on the mobile communicationdevice may register the device with a game server as a human mediatedgameplay terminal. When a participant approaches an interactiveinstallation, a game server may detect the participant's location asbeing proximate to the interactive installation by communicating with alocation server 40 and notify the human mediated gameplay terminal.Here, the game server may also provide additional information regardingthe participant such as, for example, the participant's name, game stateand photograph, for example. Upon observing a participant's attempt tocomplete a task, the human judge may select information representing theparticipant from a user interface of the human mediated gameplayterminal. Upon observing an attempt to complete a particular task, thehuman judge may then make a subsequent selection to the user interfaceof the human mediated gameplay terminal to send an acceptance or denialmessage to the game server.

Alternatively, as illustrated in FIG. 8, information collected at aninteractive installation 26 in connection with a game participant may beprovided to human mediated gameplay terminal 44 to evaluate remotely.Here, the human judge may be remotely located from the interactiveinstallation but may be able to view media content such as video, audioand still imagery provided to a remote terminal via operations layer808. The human judge may then evaluate information through query layer818 provided by the interactive installation 26 relating to performanceof the participant in attempting to complete the subsequent task andinitiate action to provide an acceptance or denial message tocontext-specific game logic hosted on the game server.

References are made herein to “servers” capable of providing resourcesover a data communication network. Such resources may comprise, forexample, stored information and/or computational resources. Accordingly,a server may comprise one or more computing platforms comprising, forexample, one or more processors coupled to a storage medium or memory bya data bus. In a particular example, such a computing platform may beadapted to execute machine-readable instructions stored in a memory forexecuting procedures to implement claimed subject matter. Likewise,mobile devices identified herein may comprise computing platformsadapted to implement one or more aspects of claimed subject matter.

While there has been illustrated and described what are presentlyconsidered to be example embodiments, it will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that various other modifications may be made, andequivalents may be substituted, without departing from claimed subjectmatter. Additionally, many modifications may be made to adapt aparticular situation to the teachings of claimed subject matter withoutdeparting from the central concept described herein. Therefore, it isintended that claimed subject matter not be limited to the particularembodiments disclosed, but that such claimed subject matter may alsoinclude all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims,and equivalents thereof.

We claim:
 1. A computer program product comprising a storage devicehaving a computer readable program stored thereon, wherein the computerreadable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to:detect, at an interactive installation, a mobile telephone that has anidentifier and is within a detection range of the interactiveinstallation, the identifier uniquely identifying the mobile telephone;extract, at the interactive installation, an identifier code from asignal emitted by the mobile telephone, the signal being associated withan identity of a game participant; send a plurality of data packets froma wireless access point that is positioned at the interactiveinstallation and is in communication with the mobile telephone to alocation server that determines an approximate location of the gameparticipant based upon the plurality of data packets, the plurality ofdata packets identifying the mobile telephone and/or the wireless accesspoint according to the identifier; emit the identifier code from theinteractive installation to a game server; receive an instruction fromthe game server to provide a gaming experience to the game participant,the instruction being based upon game participant specific information;and provide, at the interactive installation, the gaming experience tothe game participant according to the instruction.
 2. The computerprogram product of claim 1, wherein the identifier is a radio frequencyidentifier.
 3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein theidentifier is a barcode.
 4. The computer program product of claim 1,wherein the identifier is a photograph of the game participant.
 5. Thecomputer program product of claim 1, wherein the identifier is abiometric indicator of the game participant.
 6. The computer programproduct of claim 1, wherein the gaming experience is a special effect.7. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the game participantspecific information is stored in a database.
 8. A method comprising:detecting, at an interactive installation, a mobile telephone that hasan identifier and is within a detection range of the interactiveinstallation; extracting, at the interactive installation, an identifiercode from a signal emitted by the mobile telephone, the signal beingassociated with an identity of a game participant, the identifier codebeing a barcode; sending a plurality of data packets from a wirelessaccess point that is positioned at the interactive installation and isin communication with the mobile telephone to a location server thatdetermines an approximate location of the game participant based uponthe plurality of data packets, the plurality of data packets identifyingthe mobile telephone and/or the wireless access point; emitting theidentifier code from the interactive installation to a game server;receiving an instruction from the game server to provide a gamingexperience to the game participant, the instruction being based upongame participant specific information; and providing, at the interactiveinstallation, the gaming experience to the game participant according tothe instruction.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the identifier is aradio frequency identifier.
 10. The method of claim 8, wherein theidentifier is a photograph of the game participant.
 11. The method ofclaim 8, wherein the identifier is a biometric indicator of the gameparticipant.
 12. The method of claim 8, wherein the gaming experience isa special effect.
 13. The method of claim 8, wherein the gameparticipant specific information is stored in a database.
 14. A systemcomprising: an interactive installation that detects a mobile telephonethat has an identifier and is within a detection range of theinteractive installation, extracts an identifier code from a signalemitted by the mobile telephone, sends a plurality of data packets froma wireless access point that is positioned at the interactiveinstallation and is in communication with the mobile telephone to alocation server that determines an approximate location of the gameparticipant based upon the plurality of data packets, emits theidentifier code from the interactive installation to a game server,receives an instruction from the game server to provide a gamingexperience for the game participant, provides the gaming experience tothe game participant according to the instruction, the signal beingassociated with an identity of a game participant, the plurality of datapackets identifying the mobile telephone and/or the wireless accesspoint according to the identifier, the identifier uniquely identifyingthe mobile telephone.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein the identifieris a radio frequency identifier.
 16. The system of claim 14, wherein theidentifier is a barcode.
 17. The system of claim 14, wherein theidentifier is a photograph of the game participant.
 18. The method ofclaim 14, wherein the identifier is a biometric indicator of the gameparticipant.
 19. The system of claim 14, wherein the gaming experienceis a special effect.